


Ladies’ Day Outing

by belivaird_st



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-13 01:32:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14739569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st
Summary: Mrs. Aird wants a Ladies’ Day outing with just the girls - Carol, Therese, & her granddaughter, Rindy...





	1. Chapter 1

“Carol...” Therese spoke between their mouths, tasting a mixture of sweet vanilla blended flavor coffee and cigarette smoke. The lavender scented dry soap she used for her morning bath engulfed the entire bedroom. Carol, dressed in a pale pink blouse with a dark pink high-waisted skirt, was kneeling on top of Therese, who was lying on her back on their floral design bed, dressed up in a teal green embroidered pencil dress with a cutout neckline.

“Yes, Angel?” Carol grinned down upon her. She swept one side of her blonde curls behind her left ear, making the teardrop pearl earring she wore, dangle.

“I-I heard a car pulling up outside the driveway,” Therese explained, closing her eyes the minute Carol kissed her again, feeling one knee sliding up between her parted legs. Therese moaned, holding onto Carol’s shoulders, while the blonde slowly pulled their mouths apart.

“You did?”

“Yes.”

They both grew still and quietly listened to a running engine with a couple of doors opening and slamming shut in sync. Then, the faint sound of Rindy’s voice, along with her grandmother’s, were drawing closer towards the apartment both Carol and Therese shared, with the sounds of their feet crunching through gravel, outside.

“Oh damn,” Carol muttered.

“Rindy,” Therese agreed.

The two women quickly got off each other and removed themselves from the bed. Smoothing their outfits and patting their hair back neatly in place, they both made their way downstairs to the front door.

“ _Mommmy!_ ” Rindy shouted out happily, running ahead of her grandmother, who was carrying a white-purple orchid inside a cream ceramic flower pot. Jennifer Aird watched Carol embrace her daughter; scooping her up and kissing her everywhere all over the face. Therese smiled beside them and placed a hand on top of Rindy’s head.

“Hello my precious one!” Carol greeted the child. “Have you been a good girl for Grandma and Grandpa?”

“Yes, I have,” Rindy nodded, gripping onto her mother's neck.

Mrs. Aird stood nearby them and handed out the orchid flower. “Housewarming gift,” she explained once Therese took it. “You don’t have to water it much. Just drop a few ice cubes down and that should do the trick.”

“How kind of you, Mrs. Aird,” Therese spoke politely. “I’ll bring this right inside before we go.” She then carried the orchid back inside the apartment.

“Is John waiting for us?” Carol asked. 

“He’s our chauffeur,” Mrs. Aird smirked. “Since this is just a ladies’ day outing, I’ve allowed John to only drive and drop us wherever need be...”

“Ah,” Carol said.

Therese arrived back outside and followed her new family towards the beige automobile. She spotted Harge’s father, Mr. John Aird, seated behind the steering wheel, wearing a tweed Stetson Italian cap. 

“Hello, girls,” Mr. Aird greeted both Carol and Therese as they settled themselves inside the backseat with Rindy nestled on top of them in the middle. Mrs. Aird took her place back inside the passenger seat and began checking her makeup in the rear view mirror.

“Where are you taking us, John?” Carol asked.

“Main Street, I suppose,” Mr. Aird replied. 

“Before you do, we must pull over and check out that little garage sale on Oakwood Ave!” Mrs. Aird said, wiping the corner of her mouth with her pinkie nail without smudging any of her lipstick.

Therese grinned just as soon as she caught Carol rolling her eyes above Rindy’s head without a response. Nobody had bothered to disagree or argue with Mrs. Aird, because all of them knew that she was pretty much the one in charge for the day.

**xxxx**

The garage sale on Oakwood Ave had a variety of stuff. Carol picked up a wooden birdhouse and glanced over to see Rindy staring up through the mouth of a large, grizzly bear statue, that stood on a plaque on its hind legs at least five feet tall, with its claws spread out, menacingly. 

“Can we get this bear, Mommy?” Rindy asked, poking one of the sharp, pointy teeth with her finger.

“Sure honey, we can put it in Grandma’s room,” Carol chuckled, watching Mrs. Aird shudder as she examined a blue teakettle. 

Therese couldn’t help but feel bad about Mr. Aird, who was ordered to remain waiting in the car as the rest of them were browsing housing appliances and old fashion catalogs. She sighed softly as she picked up a silver hairbrush before placing it back down. It was 4 bucks, but the thought of buying it from somebody that had already used it, didn’t quite appeal to her. 

“What’s wrong, darling?” Carol asked her from across the long, card folding table that was placed between them on the tall grass.

“I just feel bad for Mr. Aird,” Therese said. “He should be out here with us, not in the car...”

Carol smirked. “Well, he’s not missing much, and his wife forbids it. Today’s a _Ladies’ Day Outing_ as she likes to call it...” she looked past Therese at the car that was parked along the sidewalk, noticing that John Aird was snoozing with the window rolled down and his elbow perched out.

**xxxx**


	2. Chapter 2

“Where do you want me to park, Jennifer dear?”

“Right here, right here’s good!”

Mr. Aird drove the car slowly and parked the car to a stop beside a curb on Madison Avenue. He watched his wife quickly get out of the vehicle with her purse flapping around one wrist. Carol had already started pulling the right backseat door open and waited while Therese held onto Rindy as she got themselves out. Sunlight spilled upon them with no cool breeze. Mrs. Aird took a satisfying deep breath of the fresh air, nonetheless, and twirled herself back around in her leather pump heels to face her husband, who gazed back at her from inside the car window. 

“What time should I pick you up?”

“Well, we certainly don’t want to be here all day, so I suggest, 4 o’clock, this evening?” Mrs. Aird shrugged.

“Dumpling, that’s seven hours!”

“Yes, and I’m sure we will have a pleasant time! Won’t we, girls?” Mrs. Aird glanced over to see that the two mothers and the five-year-old child, were all staring back at her, blankly.

“Very well,” Mr. Aird sighed. “I will be here at 4.”

“All of us thank you for your services... Goodbye, John darling!” Mrs. Aird waggled her fingers before blowing him out a small farewell kiss.

“Bye, Grandpa!” Rindy chimed out. 

“Four o’clock, Jennifer,” Mr. Aird repeated firmly. “Not a minute more!”

“Your gas money is piling up, my dear. Carry on!”

**xxxx**

Mrs. Aird and Carol walked close together in front while Therese held onto Rindy’s hand from the rear back. Their first stop was at a local bakery shop, which they spent their brunch eating strawberry danishes and chocolate filled croissants with cups of milk and honey flavored tea.

Carol broke into a sputtering coughing fit as soon as Mrs. Aird announced that she had set them both up for a hair appointment that would start in fifteen minutes at the beauty parlor. 

“I thought it’d be nice for us to get a wash and ironing curl,” Mrs. Aird explained, smiling above the rim of her teacup.

“My hair is fine the way it is, Jen,” Carol protest. She gave Therese a helpless look, who shyly smiled back at her and took a small bite of her danish. Rindy ate her croissant with her fingers at the end of the round bistro table and was getting flaky breadcrumbs and chocolate all over her royal blue jumper.

“Don’t be silly, dear,” Mrs. Aird snorted. “Those curls need a touch up! And we should definitely get our nails a fresh coat of paint...”

“What about Therese and Rindy? What are they going to do?” Carol demanded.

“They can head right over to Frankenberg’s!” Mrs. Aird exclaimed, eyeing Therese, amusingly. “You would love to pay a visit to your old store, wouldn’t you, honey?”

“We will probably go to the park instead,” Therese mumbled softly.

“I’ll come along with you,” Carol nodded. 

“No, no,” Mrs. Aird said in a light, sugary tone of voice. “The parlor will be expecting you, Carol. There’s no backing out now. Not when everything is going so well...” and to prove her point, she squeezed Carol’s forearm on the cafe table so tightly, it made her daughter-in-law whimper.

**xxxx**


	3. Chapter 3

At the downtown local beauty parlor, Mrs. Aird playfully swatted Carol with a rolled up magazine beside her. The two of them sat together in vinyl chairs with fiberglass hair dryers pulled over their wrapped, bobby pinned heads. Even with their lips moving, Carol could not hear a single word Harge’s mother was saying, because the hot air blowing from the glass dome dryers were much too loud for her ears.

“Which nail color do you want, honey?” one of the hairdressers asked Carol an hour later when her hair was all blown dried and curled.

“Crimson Red, of course,” Mrs. Aird spoke up for her while she was getting her acrylics filed the next seat over. “That’s your signature polish, is it not?”

Carol sighed and started to wonder what Therese and Rindy were doing right now. She missed the two of them and they were probably having a much more pleasant time than she was having with her mother-in-law.

**xxxx**

“Okay, pump your legs now! That’s it!” Therese instructed, standing behind the five-year-old girl, who was soaring back and forth on a tire seater swing at the playground in the park.

Rindy pumped and kicked her legs while swinging in the air. Therese helped by pushing her and stood back as the girl squealed in the air with her hair spilling everywhere around her face.

“I’m flying now, T!” Rindy shouted, squinting her eyes with the sun shining upon her. She giggled and Therese pushed her some more, smiling along. 

“You’re doing such a good job, Rindy,” Therese praised her. She knew that taking the child to the playground at the park was a better idea than bringing themselves to her old job at the toy store. Just thinking about Roberta Walls still running at Frankenburg’s made her shiver with unease.

“What are we going to do next, T? When’s Grandma and Mommy coming back?” Rindy questioned between swinging mid-air. 

“I’m not sure,” Therese replied. She thought about Carol and began to miss her. She hoped Mrs. Aird wasn’t being too hard on her. It seemed like Rindy’s grandmother was taking this ladies’ day outing a little too serious and way over the top for her liking.


	4. Chapter 4

“ _Round, and round, we go... Round, and round, we gooo!_ ” Rindy sang and giggled as Therese was spinning her on the rainbow metal playground roundabout at the park.

“You’re so silly,” Therese told the girl, watching her sit on her folded knees with her hands wrapping tightly onto two of the eight multicolor railing bars. “What song is that?”

“My own song,” Rindy answered. “ _Round and round we go..._ ”

Therese grinned. Then she turned her head sideways to see both Carol and Mrs. Aird coming towards them across the mulched playground. They looked very nice and lovely with their hair washed and nails painted. Carol looked more glamorous than usual, but the expression on her face spoke differently. She looked rather uncomfortable and tired. 

“Girls! There you are!” Mrs. Aird beamed, sounding happily content and relieved. “Come along, so we can prepare ourselves for the next thing!”

“Your hair’s very, very curly, Mommy!” Rindy called out from the metal spinning wheel. 

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Carol smiled wearily back at her. “Let’s get off that thing before you hurt yourself, alright?” She gazed upon Therese just as soon as she stood nearby. 

“Hi,” Therese murmured.

“Hi,” Carol laughed, relieved to be back with the love of her life. She draped one arm around the younger woman’s shoulders and leaned over to nuzzle her on the cheek. Therese pressed closer and carefully cupped her hand on the curve of Carol’s hip. The scent of Carol’s perfume, along with all the chemicals and shampoo in her hair, was a comfortingly fragrance that put Therese under a spell.

Mrs. Aird scowled at them before walking towards her granddaughter. She stood over and waited for the rainbow roundabout’s spin to stop. When it did, Rindy began to whine and fuss over the fact that she wasn’t done playing and that she didn’t want to leave the playground while her grandmother busily plucked her up in her arms. 

“Don’t cry, honey,” Mrs. Aird cooed, cradling the five-year-old close against her button blouse. “Grandma’s got a special surprise for you! We don’t want to be at the dirty park anymore. Grandma has a special place just for you! She’s about to take you there, right now...”

**xxxx**

The four of them stopped at a bridal shop. Mrs. Aird successfully made Rindy feel like a true princess when she helped her try on a blue satin wedding party dress with shiny white buckle shoes and a diamond encrusted tiara. Rindy gushed and squealed in front of the dressing curtain. Mrs. Aird took both of her hands and showered them with kisses.

Carol and Therese tried on a few dresses and suits, too. They surprised themselves by showing off their own tastes and styles.

The shop lady steered Therese to stand in front of a third-folded view, full-length mirror. Therese stared back at the reflection of herself wearing a feminine black satin suit jacket, trousers and bow tie. Her eyes wandered the minute the shopkeeper placed a top hat on her head. 

Carol stood behind wearing a backless ivory dress with lace-embroidery flowers sewn around the waistline. Grinning, she stepped closer to stand beside Therese. Their hands found each other and held tight. 

“I now pronounce you wife and wife,” Carol spoke softly now.

Therese giggled and gently squeezed her hand. The top hat weighed heavily on the side of her head. In the mirrors, Carol snuck a quick peck on Therese’s cheek for anyone that was at the bridal shop, to witness and see.


End file.
